Faults:

Front speakers were crackling ever since I took delivery of the car.

Lights on the dashboard flicker occasionally and for no apparent reason.

Windscreen wipers always shuddered across the windscreen since I took delivery.

General Comments:

When I mentioned to a friend that I was looking at selling my Impreza WRX STi and getting a diesel Golf, he cracked up laughing. I then took him along to the showroom for a drive, and I never heard another smart comment out of him.

I am very happy the amazing performance provided by the diesel. In total contrast to my Subaru, the turbo comes in almost straight away and pulls strong up to about 4000rpm where the power suddenly drops off.

With my occasionally heavy right foot, the Subaru would happily munch through a tank of Super Premium over a weekend. My Golf can go for two weeks on a tank of diesel. The lower price of diesel also means it costs about half the price to fill than my Subaru.

The only downsides to my Golf ownership have been my experiences with often rude and useless Volkswagen dealerships. I have experienced one particular service dept refusing to fix my faulty audio system under warranty, (despite the car being less than one year old).

The other dealership agreed to fix the fault, however after the car being there for 3 days, I picked up the car to find one speaker replaced and the other still crackling.

I find the suspension wallows a bit like a 1960's Cadillac (compared to my Subaru anyway). I have ordered a handling kit which the manufacturer promises will tighten up the whole package.

All in all however, I have no regrets in purchasing my Golf. The best car I have owned.

Faults:

It is a new car without any significant problems. A slight squeak in the back seat area to be addressed at 1000k service.

General Comments:

This car is extremely well made with an extremely solid feel to the doors and interior.

Dash lighting is the best in the business and the motor is quiet and willing.

Handling is predictable with the ride somewhere between sporty and supple taking all but the most severe bumps well.

Quality interior is closer to luxury car levels with strong, supportive seats.

Four airbags were standard and the vehicle feels safe and secure.

A quiet, solid, safe and practical car with some sportiness and luxury feel.

Faults:

From the two I had.

Car One:

Constant faults with the drive-by-wire throttle system. Dealer had no idea what was wrong with it so they claimed to have replaced:

Throttle body (lubricated once-this lasted about 20km, replaced three times)

Pedal box (twice)

ECU (twice)

Engine bay wiring.

This fault, where the car went in to limp home mode, resulted in a massive loss of power, uncontrollable revving of the motor and on more than one occasion the car accelerating flat out without any input from the driver. It happened NINE times to the first Golf I had, in less than 8000km. The service department of the only dealer in Canberra admitted lying about repairs they claimed to have done, then de facto accused me of making the whole thing up despite a multitude of fault codes in the computer. I have better things to do than make up stories about my car.

Eventually they bought the first one back from me with 8500 km on it and I paid a premium to get another (new) Golf, as I really liked the original car apart from the problem they just couldn't fix.

The new Golf:

Clunked in the front end. Dealer said it was the steering rack, and ordered a new one.

Dealer broke exhaust studs fitting the rack and had none in stock, but returned the car to me anyway, saying "you won't notice" and said new studs were on order. While it wasn't excessively loud it sounded like an old wreck so I took it home and sat it in the garage till the new studs came in.

When I drove the car away I noticed the steering wheel was off centre and the car pulled to the left.

There was also a fierce vibration coming through the floor at 90-100km/h.

When the studs came in I mentioned the new faults and they undertook to repair them.

This time they fixed the wheel alignment, but said the steering wheel couldn't be aligned any better because the column has coarse splines and only limited adjustment. This is not a good design.

They also fixed the exhaust and vibration, but this time they broke a bracket on the steering rack. They said they'd order another and I'd have to bring the car in again.

Then the car started baulking when trying to select third gear. I never even bothered to take it to the dealer for this, I just sold the car to the first person to make me an offer. The second car only had 5800km on it.

Both cars had a multitude of dashboard rattles and squeaks, which shouldn't happen in any new car let alone one advertised as being well built. One of their ads even focuses on the impossibility of a Golf developing a rattle.

Even when it was working "properly" the throttle in both cars never felt right and made it impossible to heel-and-toe by ignoring the driver's smaller inputs.

General Comments:

I bought my Golf as a present for myself, I worked hard for the money and I chose a VW because they are supposed to be well engineered and built. All the other (older) VWs we have had in the family have been excellent.

The new VWs are NOT good cars. They look great and feel solid to drive, but they are very poorly designed and built and the dealers have NO IDEA how to fix them when things go wrong.

Mine is not an isolated case. I have heard of Beetles with the same throttle problems I had, a Bora with an imploding engine and a Passat with a dodgy transmission. This from a company which claims to build excellent quality cars. Also look at the other surveys on this site and see that VW are using their reputation and excellent earlier models to sell an inferior product at an inflated price to unsuspecting motorists.

Do not, under any circumstances, buy one of these overpriced, unreliable junkers. They look great in the showroom, but the reality of owning one is an unrelenting nightmare.